Links Sports.NET

I must have been on drugs when I selected some of these pin positions. This is my first year submitting courses and pins for PLSA. I'll definitely revisit this event next year. But the course is great... long and with tight fairways.

History: Just in case you wondered why Marines Cpl-SgtMaj and all offiders have a red stripe on the leg of their dress blue trousers.

After seeing the pin positions on round 1 , its a good job the greens were soft. Same pins for the next 3 rounds could be very tough.

You said long with tight fairways and you were not kidding were you? Par 5's are about half a mile away And I was certain I hit the rough when I was sure it should have been in the fairway!

Have an anomaly with course, see the top cam. see below
How to fix, designers problem? On every hole...

dick_burt wrote:Have an anomaly with course, see the top cam. see below
How to fix, designers problem? On every hole...

I use top view and was not seeing that. Different graphics cards render differently. I'll run on my other computer and see if different.

Think you need to have Out of Bounds turned on in the cam settings to see it. Pretty sure John Brooks is aware of the issue because I remember him mentioning it briefly with some course of his having that same issue, didnt sound like he planned on fixing it. I dont want to get anyone's hopes up but Im thinking about making a slight update to this course. I know the course needs replanting but Im not sure if I would go that far, I wouldnt want to spend too much time on it but I would edit textures, pins and greenslopes where they are severely sloping in an inaccurate way if I do it.

Adelade wrote:Think you need to have Out of Bounds turned on in the cam settings to see it. Pretty sure John Brooks is aware of the issue because I remember him mentioning it briefly with some course of his having that same issue, didnt sound like he planned on fixing it. I dont want to get anyone's hopes up but Im thinking about making a slight update to this course. I know the course needs replanting but Im not sure if I would go that far, I wouldnt want to spend too much time on it but I would edit textures, pins and greenslopes where they are severely sloping in an inaccurate way if I do it.

Actually you need to turn off OB to get rid of all those lines. Dangerous when playing.
Using NVIDIA GeForce 8400GS card

I don't know if I'll play this course..
Thanks for your input..

dick_burt wrote:Actually you need to turn off OB to get rid of all those lines. Dangerous when playing.
Using NVIDIA GeForce 8400GS card

I don't know if I'll play this course..
Thanks for your input..

I did play without incident... except for pin positions.

i have those lines too in Top View cam........ Win 7 i5 on chip video (no dedicated card). Saw THEM, and TIGHT fairways and thought "NUP give this a miss" ......... yes, am a scarrrrrrdy cat !

so i drove on over to Pacific Breaks.....VERY enjoyable indeed

Pin positions in round #2 much better.

I got in a jet and flew to Denver, CO, then traveled I-70 up to a point 7,000 ft elevation. I had to do this to increase my driving distance.

Thankfully, I was hitting the snap off the tee for the most part... to get 12 FIR.

I know when I went through this course in practice mode (all 4 rounds) with same round conditions, there were no pin positions that allowed roll back if the putt made it to the hole. So, hopefully we're good for Rounds 3 and 4.

The designer could have saved himself a lot of time on hole descriptions by just making a blanket statement: 'Hit it long and straight'.
I didn't have a ton of trouble with the 1st round pins, though I could see if you were in the wrong position on a few it could be tough. For me, it was just my normal crappy putting.
The trees here must be 99% air, as I hit through at least a half dozen branches with nary a whiff of slowdown or even a sound. That was a relief because there were several times my approach to the green was blocked, even from the fairway.

Happy with pin positions for Round #3. Just have to sweat out Round #4

It was very kind of John Brooks to leave trunks and limbs off all his trees . This course has the the makings of a really great one with just a few tweaks. Looks like the seam blend got reversed here.

I suspect the scores would be several strokes higher if the trees had trunks, but it would be worth it to have another REAL course used on the Pro Tour. I hope John can find the time to perfect it.

Round #4 pin positions were decent. There was one hole where I putted past the hole and it did roll back, but to a stop still above the hole. So, I don't think you'll have any trouble.

I will say there's no way, based on what I've seen on TV, that the undulations in the greens on the Links course are accurate. But, without Strakaline maps it's hard to be accurate. Sat photos are little help. Sometimes a course web sites will have all greens in pictures in late afternoon shots where the undulations are distinct... but this is a rarity. The problems the pros on TV are having with the greens are subtle breaks and the poa annua grass.

Not exactly a course where you'd look to improve your Fwy Hit %

Dang Doug, looks like you got things under control here (champwise). Nice driving accuracy in rounds 2 and 4.

rwoodworkr wrote:Dang Doug, looks like you got things under control here (champwise). Nice driving accuracy in rounds 2 and 4.

I continued to play like the trees mattered. My guess is the APCD author must have turned off collision on every tree. In order for it to be turned on, he'd likely have to do a complete replant... rather than turn it on for each tree.

As I said, scores would have skyrocketed up had the trees had some mass.